solon

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The Word of the Day for January 27 is: 

solon   \SOH-lun\   noun
          1 : a wise and skillful lawgiver
    *2 : a member of a legislative body
 

Example sentence:
          "The bill will likely look quite different by the time the solons in 
Congress are through with it," the pundit remarked.

Did you know?
          Solon was a particularly wise lawgiver in ancient Athens who was born 
in approximately 630 B.C. and lived until about 560 B.C. He was one of the 
Seven Wise Men of Greece, and he implemented a number of reforms in Athenian 
law. In English, his name has been used generically since at least 1625 to 
refer to any wise statesman. Contemporary American journalists, with whom the 
term is especially popular, have extended the meaning even further to include 
any member of a lawmaking body, wise or not. In fact, today the word is 
sometimes used ironically for a legislator who displays a marked lack of 
wisdom, rather than a profusion of it.





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